Month: July 2006

(This post will remain at the top of this blog for the remainder of the week.)

All Buffalo Bloggers take notice: this Saturday is the appointed date for the fourth installment of BloggerCon, which will take place at Chestnut Ridge Park south of Orchard Park. Jen and Scotty have details. We’re doing a potluck picnic of sorts, so everybody make sure that unless you’re just doing a “driveby” of the event, please bring food! You don’t have to break the bank here; one box of burgers or one pack of hot dogs or something similar should be fine. I assume we’ll also need things like buns and condiments, so consider those as well.

I’m committing to bringing:

100 or so paper plates
100 or so plastic drinking cups
Dining Utensils of the Plastic Variety
Napkins

Also: Polish Sausage (I’m not sure how much I have in the freezer; I think it’s around 2 lbs. I’m bringing it all.)
Two packs hot dog buns
A big tub of potato salad
A couple bags of chips
A cooler filled with two twelve-packs of pop and ice.

I’ve only been to a single one of these BloggerCon’s, but that one was a wonderful time. And that one wasn’t even outside with food!

It should also be made clear that you don’t have to really have your own blog to attend. If you read us and comment, or if you just read us and wonder what kind of people are drawn to this medium, feel free to show up. (And if you’re a columnist with the local daily paper who wants to meet the folks who regularly savage your columns, well, feel free as well!)

(And I feel that a warning of sorts may be in order: before the last BloggerCon, Jen 14221 said in a comments thread somewhere that she’d cry if I showed up not wearing my trademark overalls. Well, the weather this weekend is supposed to be friggin’ hot, which for me is not overalls weather. So if you’re expecting to see me decked out in workwear, you’re in for a disappointment: it’ll be shorts and a t-shirt for me!)

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Here is the cover art for the American edition of Guy Gavriel Kay’s next novel, Ysabel, which will come out early next year:

I like this cover a lot. You can also see the Canadian edition here, as well as read a journal that Mr. Kay is keeping as Ysabel wends its way toward publication, here.

I, for one, cannot wait!

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The relevant info has since scrolled off the SiteMeter screen, but at some point today Byzantium’s Shores recorded its 200,000th hit. My traffic has been trending downward for a while now, so thanks to those who are sticking around.

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Here’s something probably only my Buffalo readers will get, but I think that when Superman takes a rest, he gets to sleep in Super Comfort. And why?

Well, take a look!

Here’s Superman.

And here’s the City Mattress guy.

No wonder Lois seemed so well-rested after her Fortress of Solitude excursion with the Big Blue Wonder!

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The Family and I attended the annual Taste of Buffalo food festival this afternoon. Assuming regular rates of metabolism, I forecast a return to normal hunger at around 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.

I didn’t make careful note of what all we ate and where we ate it, so sorry on that score. I’d like to see some polling someday to see if the Taste actually fulfills its stated purpose — i.e., to get people to frequent new restaurants in the area — but that’s mainly out of curiosity. The Taste is now a Buffalo institution, and it’s still a blast. Some food I remember consuming:

:: Ginger and garlic chicken from May Jen. I liked this a good deal. The sauce is fairly standard for chinese chicken, but the chicken was surprisingly not battered and fried.

:: A blackened cajun burger from…someplace. This was awesome, if a trifle salty.

:: Pulled pork nachos. Some genius took normal nachos and normal melted cheese and added pulled pork to the mix. God bless that fellow.

:: Pizza from Just Pizza. I love Just Pizza. Don’t eat there nearly enough. (As I’ve noted in the past, I love Buffalo’s pizza and think that NYC-style pizza snobs need to get over it!)

:: Yeah, cinnamon almonds from the place that does cinnamon almonds. Can’t get enough of these nuts. I drop something like $25 on sugared nuts every year at the Erie County Fair over two stops.

:: Crab rangoons from another Chinese joint. Very nicely done. Typical Chinese takeout joint fare, but I love that stuff.

:: Jerk chicken from the jerk chicken place. This is one of two or three items we insist on getting each year.

And yeah, we ate a lot more than that, too. Some random couple was leaving the Taste as we were entering, and handed us the rest of their tickets, about seven or eight bucks’ worth, which was an unexpected gesture — thanks a lot, random couple! Come to the BloggerCon in the Park next Saturday and I’ll give you each a beer. (If you’re legal. I couldn’t tell.) Those extra tickets, on top of the $40.00 worth we bought ourselves, made for a day of great eating.

(By the way, people who don’t take their own drinks to the Taste are crazy, especially with twelve-packs of pop being as cheap as they are nowadays — every week, either Coke or Pepsi is running some big sale. Why spend two bucks’ worth of tickets on a bottle of Coke, when you can get a twelve pack of Coke for the same price at the store, and then bring as many of ’em as you can stuff into a cooler bag to the Taste?)

(Oh, the above thing about drinks doesn’t pertain to alcoholic stuff. That’s a different thing. We never drink at the Taste.)

Since we didn’t make the Taste last year due to traveling out west for the sister-in-law’s wedding, this was the first time we’ve attended it in its new location, Niagara Square and up Delaware Avenue. Truth is, I can’t for the life of me imagine why they held the Taste on Main Street for so long. Even though the Delaware Ave. section got really congested in spots, just like Main St. did, it was easy to spread out in Niagara Square. Main Street tended to be devoid of places to sit and enjoy one’s food, but that problem didn’t exist at all today. Just about everywhere we went, we could find a spot to duck out of the way and eat, and sitting in the grass and shade of Niagara Square itself was just great, especially later in the afternoon, around 3:00 or so, when the sun finally moved behind City Hall.

Plus, Delaware has more “breathing room” than Main, which meant that the guys who were on garbage patrol at the Taste didn’t have to drive those carts right down the middle of the already-congested streets. And for those of you reading this who haven’t had the pleasure of attending Taste of Buffalo with a baby in a stroller, let me tell you that those Metro Rail tracks in the middle of Main Street made things a real pain in the ass at times.

Niagara Square is so superior for a Festival like this that it’s just obvious. Kind of like, oh, putting pulled pork in the nachos.

(I may have photos of the Taste sometime later in the week. I have to get the film developed first, although I’m going to have them all scanned onto a CD. My photo-taking will be this way for a while, since I have six rolls of film to use up. I figure I’ll use those up before I send the digital off to get fixed.)

(Oh, and this was my first real opportunity to see City Hall close-up. I’ve driven through Niagara Square many times, but I’ve never been able to just stop and study the building before. Of course, it’s a gorgeous structure, even with the top of it enclosed in scaffolding for repair work — the stone carving is wonderful. But I was struck at the number of window-mounted air conditioners I saw in that building, some of them many stories up. City Hall must not have proper ductwork for A/C, I assume.)

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Imagine having a genetic affliction that marks you in a very unique way — a way that makes you very noticeable whenever you go out. Imagine that you have to live with this affliction every day of every year for your whole life.

One day you finally reach your breaking point, and you sue some people who are tangentially related to your affliction for a whopping sum of money. Because you can’t get away from your genes, but money can help, if you can get it.

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Sir Jones the Indestructible posted his thoughts on Superman Returns, as did Jason Bannion, here, here and here. The two reviews aren’t completely divergent, but they do represent fairly different takes on the movie.

And I agree with just about everything the two of them say. How about that! Isn’t it wonderful, being a geek?

“Hey, Geek, how was the movie?”

“It was GREAT! Wow! It totally ROCKED! It KICKED ASS! And now, if you have a couple of hours, let me tell you what’s WRONG with it!”

It’s a curse, I tell you.

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Here’s the other quiz I found, this time via Laura of Adventures In Juggling.

1.Have you ever been searched by the cops?

Nope.

2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters?

I do if I’m dragged onto an indoors, “in the dark” type of coaster. I hate those.

3. When’s the last time you’ve been sledding?

This past winter. Chestnut Ridge Park. Great place.

4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?

Depends on who, right?

5. Do you believe in ghosts?

No, but I wish the world had them, for some strange reason.

6. Do you consider yourself creative?

Yeah, kindasorta.

7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?

Keeping in mind that I spent very little time following the case, yes, I do.

8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?

Sela Ward.

9. Do you stay friends with your exes?

Well, no, but not because I hate them or anything. I’ve just lost track of them completely. (Well, OK, there was one that I wasn’t too fond of afterwards, but that’s water long past under my bridge.)

10. Do you know how to play poker?

No. (I’m a shitty card player, really.)

11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?

Heavens, no!

12. What’s your favorite commercial?

Geez, I don’t know. I can’t even think of any commercials right now.

13. What are you allergic to?

Libertarians! [rimshot] Seriously, though, I have a feeling I’m developing hay fever as I get older, but other than that, nothing.

14. If you’re driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around do you run red lights?

I have, but rarely. One time I did it inadvertently, and a cop pulled me over. Luckily, he let me go without a ticket. (It was my first night closing Pizza Hut on a weekend in the old town, and when I pulled out of our lot, every light up the street was blinking yellow since it was after 2:00 a.m. Every light except one, which I didn’t realize had gone red. Oops. I explained this to the cop, who then expressed his hope that I wasn’t a delivery driver. Funny guy.)

15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you?

Yes. I’m secretly in love with…hey! Stop that!

16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?

Pittsburgh Pirates, who, as of this writing, are the worst team in baseball, even worse than the Royals. A year or so ago I read in an article somewhere that mega-rich Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban would love to buy the Pirates; after watching years of crappy baseball courtesy of current Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy’s refusal to spend money on anything other than guys like Derek Bell, I say, “Bring on Mark Cuban!”

17. Have you ever been Ice Skating?

Yes. I wasn’t particularly good at it. Turns out it isn’t as much like rollerblading as I thought it would be.

18. How often do you remember your dreams?

You mean, this isn’t one right now? Ye Gods!

19. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?

Don’t remember, but it’s not a totally unheard of thing for me to do.

20. Can you name 5 songs by The Beatles?

“Hey Jude” (God, I hate that song), “Yesterday”, “Michelle”, “In My Life” (my favorite Beatles song, although like every other Beatles song, I like it better when someone other than the Beatles does it), “Yellow Submarine”.

21. What’s the one thing on your mind now?

Why the Democrats are such a bunch of weenies.

22. Do you know who Ghetto-ass Barbie is?

Huh?

23. Do you always wear your seat belt?

Yes. I feel naked without it.

24. What cell service do you use?

I don’t currently own a cell phone, although I wouldn’t mind getting one someday. I don’t like how cell phones have come to rule the world, though, and I hate watching young people wander around in that bubble-world they enter when they’re texting each other like drones. When did we decide as a society that we have to be able to contact, and be contacted by, everybody else at any moment in the day?

25. Do you like Sushi?

Yes! And it’s been too long since I’ve had it.

26. Have you ever narrowly avoided a fatal accident?

Not that I know of.

27. What do you wear to bed?

I think it best, for the health of my readership, that I not answer this. (Except to say that I don’t sleep in overalls.)

28. Been caught stealing?

No. Bwaaaa-haaa-hahahahaha! (Seriously, I don’t steal.)

29. What shoe size do you have?

Depends on the shoe manufacturer — I have shoes ranging from 10.5 to 12 that I wear often. So, take the mean at 11.25, I suppose.

30. Do you truly hate anyone?

It’s an ugly thing, I admit, but yes. Longtime readers will be able to cite a few.

31. Classic Rock or Rap?

Between the two, classic rock. But for my normal listening: classical, Celtic, and film music.

32. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?

Didn’t I answer this in question eight?

33. Favorite Song?

I’ll answer this one differently every time, so right now I’ll say “On the Street Where You Live”, by Lerner and Loewe, from “My Fair Lady”.

34. Have you ever sang in front of the mirror?

Yeah, although I don’t do anything goofy like pretend my shaver is a microphone or anything.

35. What food do you find disgusting?

Broccoli. I will forever fail to understand what makes otherwise reasonable people put that nauseating weed into their mouths.

36. Do you sing in the shower?

Actually, no.

37. Did you ever play, “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours?”

Yeah. His Han Solo action figure was a lot cooler than mine, I’m sad to say.

[blinks]

What are you talking about? What?! Eeewwwwwwww!

38. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back?

Yeah, but later on I tend to tell them what I said, and then they tell me what they said about me, and so on. That’s the kind of people I hang out with.

39. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew?

Absolutely, and someday, George Lucas will thank me!

40. Have you ever been punched in the face?

Literally? Not that I recall. Figuratively? All the f***ing time.

OK, that’s all for now.

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Time was when I’d answer just about any quiz that came along, but I suddenly stopped seeing them as frequently as I had in the past. I found two recently that looked fun, so here’s the first, via Paul.

1-What do you want people to say about you when you die?

Long live the Emperor!

2-How long does it take you to get ready to go out?

Kind of depends on where we’re going and how enthusiastic I am about going there.

3-If you were an animal what would you be?

A cat.

4-What’s your biggest fear?

Well, clowns freak me out a bit.

5-What’s your most prized possesion?

My 60th anniversary edition of The Lord of the Rings, I guess.

6-What’s the funniest word you can think of?

Hmmmm. Gary Larson once wrote that he found the very word “cow” inherently funny, and yeah, it is — but I like “heebie-jeebies”.

7-Do you get along with your parents? Yes.

8-What do you look for in the opposite sex? Eyes, hips, hair, and, well, let’s just say “pleasing topography”.

9-What was the most difficult thing you had to do? Tell The Daughter that her brother had died. Of all my memories of the whole week Little Quinn passed away, that moment is the one memory that is guaranteed to make me cry.

10-If you were given one day to live what would you do? Er — I’m not going to answer that one honestly in this space. I’ll just go with “leave a bag of burning dog poop on the White House doorstep”.

11-If you could relive any day of your life either for good or to change it what would it be? I’d take the interview with The Store when they called way back in 2001. I’d already accepted a job that I’d turn out to both hate and suck at with another company.

12-What’s the worst feeling in the world? What do you think?

The best? Being in someone’s arms.

13-If you could meet anyone who ever existed who would it be? Carl Sagan.

14-What was the meanest thing you ever did as a little kid? Yeah, I’m not answering this, either.

15-What have you learned about love? Well, it hurts, scars, wounds and mars. As a thing in itself, it has a tendency to be many-splendored. You should set stuff free if you love it. If you love someone, you never have to apologize to them.

16-How have you changed in the past year? The hair’s longer and grayer, the heart’s lonelier, the brain’s finding new stuff to think about. That’s kind of how everybody changes, isn’t it?

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